Most of the trailer hitches used today still have an upstanding ball on the towing bar of the towing vehicle and the inverted socket mounted on the tongue of the trailer. The alignment of the inverted socket over the upstanding ball and the subsequent vertical motion engagement of the inverted socket down over the upstanding ball is still today often a time consuming process and often a risk assuming process. This is especially so when the driver of the towing vehicle must couple or hitch the towing vehicle to the trailer without the assistance of another person. Moreover, when the trailer tongue weight is high, and/or the trailer is heavy, a person has difficulty making any adjustments in pre-positioning the inverted socket over the upstanding ball.
There have been and are trailer hitches and accessories therefore, which are directed to making it more convenient and/or safer to couple or to hitch a towing vehicle to a trailer. Cyril L. Carter in 1970 in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,521,908 illustrated and described his self aligning trailer hitch, which during the coupling has an extending and pivotal hitch bar portion to undertake the alignment in a convenient way. Then following the initial coupling, the pivotal hitch bar portion, upon relative motion of the vehicles, is telescoped within the encompassing tow bar, and then locked into place during the towing time of the coupled or hitched towing vehicle and the trailer.
Daniel C. Miller in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,879,062 in 1975, disclosed his trailer hitch guide, used in directly guiding the leading end of a trailer tongue, so the inverted socket thereon, would be in vertical alignment over the mating hitch ball on the tow bar of a towing vehicle. His trailer hitch guide had a V shaped element supported by other portions thereof, in turn supported on portions of the towing vehicle.
Woodrow F. Thompson in his two patents, U.S. Pat. No. 3,588,145 of 1971 pertaining to a trailer hitch, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,801,133 of 1974 pertaining to a load leveling and anti-sway trailer hitch, illustrated and described the use of his shovel or guide plate. Whether or not the ball was on the towing vehicle or the trailer, or the socket was on the vehicle or the trailer, his guide plate was positioned to direct the relative motion approach of the ball and socket, so they would be in vertical alignment. Then subsequent vertical lowering of the trailer tongue would bring the ball into engagement within the socket.
Also Mr. Thompson in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,801,133 illustrated and described how his load leveling bars were arranged for pivotal movement about an axis, which was coincident with the vertical axis of the ball and socket coupling.
Arthur John Hameri in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,679,243 of 1972 discloses his coupling assembly wherein a depending ball secured to a trailer tongue rides up a ramp and drops down in a holding cavity. A cover plate is secured thereafter to keep the ball in the holding cavity.
Also Arthur John Hameri in his British patent 2,175,262 A of 1986 illustrated and described a ball and socket coupling wherein a depending ball rides up a ramp and drops down into a two piece cavity, one piece of which is moved to lock and unlock the depending ball in the cavity.
These persons and other people have provided trailer hitches which have helped the owners and operators of towing vehicles to couple the ball and socket of respective trailers with greater convenience, safety and speed. Yet there remained a need for providing a trailer hitch which could be readily adapted for coupling securement to a towing vehicle, in a well understood way, to provide a combined self alignment structure with a better receiving socket structure, to guide, receive, align, and encompass a ball, conveniently and quickly secured to a conventional socket equipped trailer tongue of a trailer. Moreover, the decoupling would also be conveniently and safely undertaken.